


Don't Say Anything

by Kitt_Monroe



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 21:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1793860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitt_Monroe/pseuds/Kitt_Monroe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everybody is amused by Hinata. Which would be fine, if Hinata had any idea what was so amusing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Say Anything

Hinata didn't really know what to do.

This had been going on all morning, but he couldn't put a finger on why, or else he might know what he was supposed to do about it.

It wasn't anything he could define specifically, it was just that...everyone started being weird this morning. He couldn't tell what was making them act so weirdly, but somehow he knew it had to do with him.

It was easy enough to ignore when it was Saionji. She was the first one to start being weird, constantly snickering to herself and giving Hinata semi-conniving glances. It was easy to ignore because Saionji was always making fun of people for one reason or another. After a while, it got too annoying/confusing to bear--she just wouldn't stop giggling--so Hinata ran back to his cottage to check himself out in the mirror. Nothing looked particularly out of place...but he fixed his hair and straightened his shirt and tie. Apparently, though, that wasn't sufficient--when he got back to the hotel restaurant, Saionji took one look at him and burst into giggles.

But again, that was easy to ignore. But it seemed to spread as time went on: after a while, Koizumi seemed to catch on to whatever was going on and started sporting a wide grin on her face. She, unlike Saionji, was silent, but her chest shook ever so slightly every once in a while, like she was stifling a laugh. Somehow, Hinata knew that whatever it was, it was still about him--the photographer and the classical dancer couldn't stop stealing looks at Hinata when they thought he wasn't looking.

After Koizumi, Hanamura seemed to notice whatever was so funny. He almost did a spit take with a swallow of sparkling cider, took a look at the bottle of cider, and forced himself to swallow it, apparently deeming it too high-quality to spit out. Saionji snickered again to herself; Hanamura looked over at her and was met with a toothy grin and a slow nod from the dancer. Koizumi beckoned him over to their table, and he dashed over with the cider.

Hinata folded his arms, trying to focus on the really impossibly bland (and, since he had run back to his cottage, now cold as well) noodles he had gotten from the food table for breakfast. He made a valiant effort to force his ears not to listen to what the three who had apparently noticed were saying, but it was no use:

"Do you think he...?" Hanamura whispered.

"Don't say anything," Saionji instructed, her tone clearly still amused.

"What are we talking about?" Mioda asked loudly, and as Hinata looked up he saw the Super High-school Level Light Music Club Member sit down, apparently uninvited, at the table where Hanamura, Koizumi, and Saionji were.

"Shhhhh!" Saionji whispered harshly. She then whispered something else Hinata couldn't hear no matter how hard he tried.

Mioda nodded and stood up from the table. She then walked over to the food table, and Hinata could tell that she was honest-to-God trying to look natural, but Mioda was so bad at acting natural _anyway_ that she looked like she was trying to walk on stilts. She took a cinnamon roll from the table and turned around to walk back to what was apparently becoming the Laugh At Hinata table. Hinata felt her eyes fall on him for the briefest moment, and instantly she snorted. She cupped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound and ran back to the table with her cinnamon roll.

"Seriously?" she asked, doing her best to whisper.

Saionji said something else Hinata couldn't quite make out--damn, he really wished there was another table closer to theirs and that he could subtly make his way over to it without being obvious--and then snickered once more.

"I don't know, I just don't like talking about people behind their backs," Mioda mumbled, taking a nibble of her cinnamon roll.

Saionji flicked her on the head and said something that Hinata was pretty sure included the words "scaredy-cat" and "dumb bitch."

Koizumi whispered something, reaching over to pat Mioda's head where Saionji had flicked it. Hinata realized that he had been leaning his head closer and closer to their table to try to hear what they were whispering and that he probably looked pretty stupid. He jerked his head back to a normal position, scratching the back of his neck and generally trying to look busy, like he wasn't hanging on to the every word of the group at the other table.

"Is something funny over here?" Kuzuryuu inquired, and Hinata looked up to see the gangster standing over the group (despite being the third shortest of all sixteen of the students, Kuzuryuu had such a domineering presence that he was capable of standing over them and looking pretty authoritative about it). Apparently Kuzuryuu had managed to find time to take out of his busy schedule of sitting as far away from everyone else as possible, so that he could sate his curiosity about what was going on. Pekoyama stood a couple of paces behind him, adjusting the coattails on his pinstriped suit jacket (she actually had to squat slightly to do that because she was like seven inches taller than him, which looked quite humorous).

Hinata pointed his face back down at his food but kept his eyes on the other table in a sort of silly attempt to still see what they were doing. Koizumi subtly gestured toward Hinata with her head. Kuzuryuu glanced at Hinata very momentarily before turning his head toward Pekoyama, who nodded. Pekoyama--who was far better than Mioda at not looking like a complete doofus when she didn't want to be noticed--strolled calmly over to the food table and retrieved from it a stick of celery. She then walked behind Hinata, and for the life of him Hinata couldn't see when if ever she looked at him.

Hinata's attempt to catch Pekoyama in the act of glancing at him caused him to miss when the group at the Laugh At Hinata table invited Kuzuryuu to sit with them, but apparently they did. By this point, Saionji, Koizumi, Hanamura, Mioda, and Kuzuryuu were sitting at the table, and it was beginning to get crowded. Hinata hoped that would discourage more of them from sitting at that table, but he felt somehow that wasn't the case. Pekoyama joined them, sitting next to Kuzuryuu, and whispered something in the Super High-school Level Gangster's ear. Hinata saw Kuzuryuu's eyes grow wide after a moment, and something slightly resembling a grin came over his face. "Are you fucking serious?" he whispered.

"Don't say anything," Saionji instructed him, giggling intensely.

Hinata decided that at some point he would really obviously look up at them to indicate that he had heard something one of them said, so that they would feel really stupid. He wasn't sure how else to get back at them for being so amused about whatever amused them so much, especially since he _didn't know_ what was so funny.

Hinata heard footsteps from the stairwell leading up to the hotel restaurant and turned his head slightly to see Tanaka coming up the stairs. The Super High-school Level Animal Breeder noticed Hinata immediately, and Hinata saw an alarmed look come over his face. Tanaka then seemed to notice something else farther away from him, and Hinata looked back to the Laugh At Hinata table to see Kuzuryuu beckoning Tanaka over with a single finger. Tanaka cleared his throat and strolled--floated, more like, because Tanaka's style was to always look as mystical as possible--over to the table. When he sat down at the table, facing away from Hinata which meant Hinata couldn't see or gauge his reaction, Saionji whispered something that sounded mostly harmless, but then Tanaka lowered his head and his entire body shook a little as though he were laughing.

"And the bland one truly does not realize?" Tanaka wondered, slightly more loudly than he apparently should have because Mioda put a finger to her mouth.

Koizumi whispered something, and Hinata felt like it was probably something along the lines of "It doesn't seem like he does."

"Should we tell him?" Tanaka asked, more softly this time, but since he was closer to Hinata, Hinata could still hear a little bit.

"No, don't say anything," Saionji whispered hastily.

Ok, this was really starting to piss Hinata off. Clearly, there was something about him that was easy to notice, but he couldn't even begin to think of what it might be. He had checked himself in the mirror, and nothing seemed to pop out as really strange or funny...

And they were actively keeping it from him, too. Apparently it was so funny that they couldn't bear the thought of just telling him so he could fix whatever it was.

Hinata's gaze drifted to the right when he saw Sonia moving gracefully toward the table from where she had previously been sitting near the window. Sure, Hinata figured; if Tanaka goes over there then Sonia's bound to follow. Trailing a few steps behind Sonia was Souda, also not a surprise. "May we join your conversation?" Sonia asked sweetly.

"Sure, grab a couple chairs," Koizumi agreed.

"Souda-san, if you would please get a chair for me?" Sonia requested.

"Oh! Of course, Sonia-san!" Souda obeyed, dashing toward the table they had previously sat and taking two of the chairs. He dragged them back to the Laugh At Hinata table and moved one of them under Sonia as she sat (next to Tanaka of course). Then he sat in the other chair next to her. This meant that, again, Hinata couldn't see their faces.

"So? Catch us up," Souda suggested.

"Shhh," Hanamura whispered. Then he leaned over and whispered something else Hinata couldn't hear, presumably whatever it was that was so amusing.

Souda nearly burst into laughter but covered his mouth so it basically sounded like he was choking. Sonia gave a very soft, princess-like giggle and covered her mouth as well. Souda whispered something that included the word "serious," so it was probably "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," Hanamura whispered back.

Hinata chose this moment to execute his look-up-at-them-so-they-feel-stupid plan. But none of them saw him look up, so it failed miserably.

Ok, maybe it wasn't so bad. After all, there were only six of them now--Komaeda, Tsumiki, Nidai, Nanami, Owari, and Togami--who didn't know about this _thing_ that was so funny. Maybe, after all of them found out, which would hopefully be soon, he would just be able to ask all fifteen of them, point blank, what was amusing them so greatly.

Hinata quickly and subtly surveyed the restaurant. Tsumiki was at one of the corner tables, excluding herself as always from having to interact with anyone else but casting frequent, curious glances at the Laugh At Hinata table; Nidai and Owari were in the opposite corner, chatting and periodically inhaling large quantities of food; and Togami was at the table just next to the food table, looking completely uninterested in whatever was going on at the now nine-person table in the center of the room. Komaeda and Nanami were nowhere to be seen, meaning Hinata was probably going to have to wait a while before everyone knew of this supposed hilarious element of Hinata's being.

Tsumiki apparently deemed it the right time to go over and ask what was up, but before she got more than a couple of steps toward the table, her eyes fell on Hinata. She immediately looked back to the Laugh At Hinata table with enormously wide-open eyes and a smile she was trying desperately to fend off. Souda and Sonia conjunctively waved her over, and the Super High-school Level Nurse took the chair in which she had just been sitting and hurried to the table.

"I-is that what you're all h-here about?" she asked, the smile still fighting for dominance on her face.

"Keep it down!" Saionji whispered irritably. "And yeah."

Tsumiki couldn't help giggling. Kuzuryuu drew his hand horizontally across his neck in a "cut it" gesture, and Tsumiki cleared her throat in an attempt to quit laughing. The nurse then whispered something, clicking her fingernails together.

Saionji shook her head violently and whispered something. Hinata, who liked to believe he had gotten slightly proficient at reading lips at this point, could tell she was saying, "Don't say anything." Why? Why did they so badly not want to tell him? Did they just enjoy making him suffer?

Another whisper, which Hinata could vaguely tell was in Tanaka's voice, included the words "when" and "bland one." Why was he the bland one, Hinata wondered. He wasn't _that_ boring... Maybe it was that he didn't know his talent. That would be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Yeah, Hinata kind of wanted it to be that.

"I'm not sure we have to," Souda answered. Pekoyama briefly looked back at Hinata, who by this point was very much staring straight at the table and instantly jerked his head back down when she saw him, and put a finger to her lips to notify Souda that he should lower his voice. Souda continued on more quietly, but Hinata could still catch it: "He'll probably notice it when he goes to bed."

Well, great. Apparently, Hinata was going to know one way or the other when he went to sleep tonight, but he wasn't sure he could wait that long with them all giggling and snickering their asses off. He considered leaving the hotel restaurant and getting in bed _now_ just to see what it was, but that would be like giving them the victory, and there was a very petty, very childish part of him that didn't want to do that.

Mioda whispered something that had the words "soon" and "mean" in it, with a somewhat sympathetic expression on her face.

Saionji sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, we'll tell him soon," she affirmed.

Koizumi rubbed Saionji's shoulder with a pleased expression, apparently approving of the dancer's decision. She then whispered something that included Owari's, Nidai's, Nanami's, and Togami's names. Hinata knew that those four hadn't learned of the amusing thing, but he was confused as to why Koizumi didn't mention Komaeda in that list.

He didn't have time to dwell on it, though, because he noticed Owari and Nidai walking confidently over to the table. Owari looked over everyone there, and everyone looked back up at her. "Okay, what the hell," Owari finally declared.

"Come, sit," Hanamura greeted them. Nidai nodded and grabbed two chairs from the table next to him.

Once the gymnast and coach were seated, Kuzuryuu leaned forward with his elbows on the table and whispered to them the thing that was so funny. Hinata figured they must be making sure to be _extra_ quiet when they told each other what it was, because for all he strained his ears he couldn't hear a single word of it.

Nidai began laughing extremely loudly, but Saionji poked him in the side, apparently very hard because Nidai stopped instantly and flinched back. Owari's expression was altogether blank, and she held up her index finger in a "wait one moment" symbol. She then stood and walked casually over to the food table. She made no attempt to disguise her glance at Hinata as she filled a plastic cup with lemon-lime soda. A grin spread across her face when he saw Hinata, and she hurried back to the table with her drink. After she sat down, she leaned over to Nidai and whispered, "It's true," somewhat loudly, with an amazed grin.

"Keep it down," Pekoyama encouraged. Owari and Nidai nodded vigorously.

Owari whispered something, and Saionji responded with the standard "don't say anything." Mioda then whispered something that included "Byakuya-chan" and "Chiaki-chan" and also "promise." Again, Hinata recognized that Togami and Nanami were two of the three that hadn't heard yet, but again Komaeda was left off the list. This puzzled Hinata. Hinata was puzzled now.

"Yes, we promise, Ibuki-chan," Koizumi whispered in response.

At this time, Togami stood from his table and walked over to the food table. He collected several cuts of meat and wedges of cheese on a plate and began to return to his table, but he must have caught a glimpse of whatever was so funny about Hinata in his peripheral vision, because he stopped dead in his tracks. Hinata saw the Super High-school Level Heir's gaze shift from directly in front of him to the Laugh At Hinata table group, of which Mioda beckoned him over (not very subtly, it should be noted). Togami took his chair, walked with his food over to the table, and sat next to Owari. Tsumiki preemptively put a finger to her mouth to tell Togami to be quiet.

Togami whispered something Hinata couldn't hear any of, and Kuzuryuu nodded with a silent chuckle. "Don't say anything," Saionji said for like the seventeen thousandth time.

"We're just waiting for Nanami-san," Sonia explained before giving another soft giggle.

Tanaka whispered something Hinata couldn't hear, and Koizumi rolled her eyes. "Absolutely not," the photographer replied sternly. She added something, but the only words Hinata could hear were "too much" and "baby."

...Had she just insulted him? Hinata bit the inside of his cheek, tapping his foot impatiently as if doing so would will Nanami and Komaeda to the restaurant faster.

Suddenly he could feel a pair of eyes boring holes into the back of his head. The owner of the eyes passed his table, and he figured that apparently Nanami had also seen what was so fantastically humorous. The Super High-school Level Gamer didn't even speak to him and instead took a chair from the table Hinata was at. She placed the chair between Souda's and Tsumiki's and sat down in it. Once again, Hinata couldn't see her face.

"Is this real life?" Nanami inquired blankly.

"Astoundingly enough, yes," Nidai answered, not really whispering at all. Saionji poked him in the side again.

Owari whispered something Hinata couldn't make out. "Oh, are we whispering?" Nanami guessed. Koizumi nodded with as serious an expression as if they were discussing nuclear launch codes.

Mioda whispered something that included "tell him," and Saionji sighed very dramatically. "I'll do it," Nanami offered.

"Okay, but be cheeky about it," Kuzuryuu suggested.

Nanami stood back up from her chair, apparently with the mission in mind, and turned around to face Hinata. Hinata looked up at her, trying to put on as innocent a face as possible, as she advanced toward him. She stopped just in front of his table with a smile. "You must be troubled," she assumed.

"You think?" Hinata drawled sarcastically, immediately realizing he couldn't keep up the innocent facade. It had been, what, like fifteen minutes now? And he wasn't prepared to pretend like he didn't want to know.

Nanami put a hand to her heart. "You must be very brave, Hinata-kun, to display that so proudly," she admired.

"D-display--? What the hell are you talking about?" Hinata demanded, his tone betraying his frustration easily. "Look, just tell me what the hell is so funny!"

There were a few giggles from the Laugh At Hinata table, all of whose members were staring intensely at Hinata to see his reaction. "She's gonna say it," Hanamura announced with a snicker.

"She's totally gonna say it," Owari agreed.

Nanami waited another few moments. "You may want to check your back," she advised.

Hinata blanched. "M-my back?" he repeated. Of course. It was so obvious! All of them who had seen what was so funny had either been behind Hinata to begin with--like Tanaka, who had walked in from the stairs, or Tsumiki, whose table was behind and to the right of Hinata--or had gone over to the food table, which was behind and to his left, to check it out. Then there was Souda's esoteric musing that Hinata would notice it when he went to bed, which would put Hinata on his _back._ He didn't know how he hadn't figured it out sooner, but that didn't matter now. Hinata reached frantically behind himself and felt something flat and thin on the back of his shirt. A piece of paper...?

He ripped at the flat, thin thing, and heard the sound of tape detaching itself from his shirt. Oh hell no, someone had taped a _note_ to him? When would anyone have done that?

He pulled the paper out in front of him and looked down at it--and instantly he knew why everyone had been acting weird.

Really, he should have expected it might be something like this.

On the paper, in big, loopy letters, in dark red marker (presumably to attract the eye), were the words "I LOVE KOMAEDA."

Hinata stared at it for about two seconds, his face turning verifiably scarlet, before letting out a guttural " _Jesus fuck!_ " Instantly he could hear a certain Super High-school Level Good Luck cackling downstairs in the lobby.


End file.
